Style Summary:

We are making a coconut IPA based on our American IPA.

More details can be found here: BJCP Style Details

A small excerpt from the source about this style:
“Overall Impression: A decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties. The balance is hop-forward, with a clean fermentation profile, dryish finish, and clean, supporting malt allowing a creative range of hop character to shine through.” - BJCP -

…of course, with some coconut ;)

Coconut Additions

Here is one of the first things The Hop and Grain note: Coconut tends to accompany darker, sweeter beer styles, such as stouts and porters, much better than lighter styles. I agree. However we have an idea for a tropical ipa with coconut. We will aim to be on the lighter side, but want solid coconut flavor. Homebrewtalk had a suggestion I like where the brewer utilized a 1lb coconut and toasted it before adding to the fermentation carboy. That’s what I decided to do. I bought a coconut and used a chisel to cut a square hole into the coconut. After draning the coconut I sawed it in half and scraped the flesh out. Finally I toasted at 350 degreed F for about 15-20 minutes. While it was toasting I boiled the coconut water down to shrink it’s volume and saved for later. Finally I poured vodka over the coconut in a jar till it was submerged. I added the water which had shrunk to about a cup of fluid. It will sit for approximately 5 days before we add to the fermenter.

Below are some pics of my process:

The Coconut

It was already sort of shaved down and without hair

It was already sort of shaved down and without hair

Coconut Chopped

I didn’t use the grater. The spoon and knife were enough. Notice how much coconut water is in the jar!

I didn’t use the grater. The spoon and knife were enough. Notice how much coconut water is in the jar!

Coconut Toasted and soaked in it’s own water and vodka

After reducing coconut water, filled jar with approx 3/4 cups vodka and reduced water.

After reducing coconut water, filled jar with approx 3/4 cups vodka and reduced water.

Kitchen Constants:

  • Evaporation Rate = 15%
  • Mash Efficiency = 73.5%
  • Mash Tun Dead Space = 0 Gallons
  • Boil Kettle Dead Space = 0.5 Gallons
  • Lauter Tun Dead Space = 0.5 Gallons
  • Fermentation Loss = 0.25 Gallons

* Small Note: we will use math mainly from “Designing Great Beers” by Ray Daniels as it is intuitive and easy to follow for the modern day home brewer.

Recipe Style Date OG FG
Coconut IPA Coconut IPA 10_28_2018 1.063 1.011

Fermentables

Link to Potential Gravity From Grain Values

Grains Lbs Potential_SG EZ_Water_Code SRM Percent
Pale Malt (2 Row) US 12.31 1.036 2 2 1

Theoretical OG from this is: 1.0651445

Hops

Kyle found a cool new hop for us to try called Ausralian Vic Secret. It is supposed to have a lot of pineapple and tropical fruity flavors. For bittering we will use Galaxy.

Hop Hop_Type Alpha_Acid_Percent Weight_Oz Boil_Time Utilization IBU
Galaxy pellet 0.141 1.2 30 0.24 56.541215
Australian Vic Secret pellet 0.210 0.5 5 0.06 8.771908
Australian Vic Secret pellet 0.210 1.5 0 0.00 0.000000

Predicted ABV: 65.3131229

Mash

  • Mash_Thickness: 1.25
  • Sacc_Rest_Temp: 149
  • Mash_Duration: 60
  • Init_Grain_Temp: 70
  • Infusion_Temp: 161.64
  • Mash_Volume_Gal: 3.846875
  • Sparge_Vol: rSVPMO
  • Mash_Out_Vol: 2.0186935

Water Chemistry

Formulas and constants from here
Bostons Water Supply Chemistry link

Boston Water Supply (ppm or mg/L):

  • Init_Ca: 4
  • Init_Mg: 1
  • Init_Na: 32
  • Init_Cl: 23
  • Init_SO4: 6
  • Init_HCO3_CaCO3: 40

Adjustments: (ppm or mg/L)

  • pH_DOWN_Gypsum_CaSO4: 10
  • pH_DOWN_Cal_Chl_CaCl2: 5
  • pH_DOWN_Epsom_Salt_MgSO4: 5
  • pH_UP_Slaked_Lime_CaOH2: 0
  • pH_UP_Baking_Soda_NaHCO3: 0
  • pH_UP_Chalk_CaCO3: 0

Summary:

  • Estimated Room Temp Mash pH: 5.5426586
  • Desired Room Temp Mash pH: 5.4 - 5.6
  • Effective Alkalinity: 32.7868852
  • Residual Alkalinity: -167.719023

Yeast

  • Yeast_Strain: SafAle US-05
  • Attenuation: 72
  • Initial_Cell_Count_Billions: 308.2150103
  • Pitched_Cells_Billions: 308.2150103
  • Liters_For_Starter: 0.1772236
  • Time_For_Starter: 0

ABV (predicted): 6.1224076

Fermentation

We need to keep the hop character in the beer. This means we need to ferment somewhat cold for an ale or rather on the cold side of the yeast fermentation temperature range. Safale US-05 says 59 - 71.6 degrees fahrenheit. We will shoot for 59. As for any variation. The first week will be tightly controlled. Then we we will put a Kolsch in the fridge and the temp of the beer will probably average out to 70 degrees F for the remaining 3 weeks.

Temp Days
59 7
70 7
70 7
70 7

Brew Day Schedule

  1. Infusion Infuse 3.846875 gallons of water at 161.64 degrees Fahrenheit into the grains.
  2. Mash
    • Mash for 60 minutes and hold at 149 degrees Fahrenheit for the entire mash duration.
    • While mashing bring 2.0186935 gallons to boil for mash out.
    • Bring an additional 3.3182302 gallons to 170 degrees Fahreheit for use as sparge volume.
  3. Lauter
    • After adding the mash out volume, slowly ladel the sparge water into the mash. Vorlauf as usual for clarity.
  4. Boil
    • Add these chemicals to the boiling wort:
      • 10 grams of Gypsum_CaSO4
      • 5 grams of Cal_Chl_CaCl2
      • 5 grams of Epsom_Salt_MgSO4
    • Start Yeast:
      • Cell Density Needed: 308.2150103 billion cells or 17.7223631 grams of yeast from packets
      • Add yeast to 177.2236309 ml of water
    • Boil the wort for 60 minutes and add hops as follows:
      • Add 1.2 oz of Galaxy hops after 30 min of boiling
      • Add 0.5 oz of Australian Vic Secret hops after 55 min of boiling
      • Add 0.5 oz of Australian Vic Secret hops after 60 min of boiling at flame out
  5. Cool to 69 degrees Fahrenheit and pitch yeast